The adaptation of the breakout mashup novel by Seth Grahame-Smith was originally set up at Lionsgate with Natalie Portman attached to star.

Then it went through a revolving door of directors including David O. Russell, Mike White, Craig Gillespie, while actresses such as Scarlett Johansson, Mia Wasikowska and Anne Hathaway flirted with starring in it.

But the producers -- Portman, Annette Savitch, Richard Kelly and Sean McKittrick -- never lost hope, and like a member of the living dead going after a piece of meat, kept at it and have now attached Lily Collins to star and Burr Steers, the director behind the Zac Efron movies 17 Again and Charlie St. Cloud, to helm the adaptation.

Panorama will produce and finance and will sell the project at Cannes.

Zombies remain a hot commodity as does a little genre-bending. For example, Warm Bodies, a zombie love story, made more than $116 million worldwide.

And the producers have a star on the rise in Collins. The actress, who starred in Mirror, Mirror, stars in this summer’s Mortal Instruments: City of Bones. Screen Gems and Constantin already are planning a sequel based on the advance buzz on that YA adaptation.